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Op-Ed | After Three American Mass Shootings in 19 Days Will Anything of Consequence Change?

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Note:

This post is far from being completed (as you will see by the long list of topics at the end), but I wanted to post this now while Congress is still in "the thick of it" trying to agree on some kind of gun legislation. Please check back at a later time to see updates.

Introduction

On May 14, 2022, an 18-year-old white male in Buffalo, New York shot and killed 10 people and wounded three others at a local supermarket. The shooter used an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle in the attack. The shooting appears to be racially-motivated. Read more here.

On May 24, 2022, an 18-year-old male in Uvalde, Texas shot and killed 21 people and wounded 17 others at an elementary school. The shooter used an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle in the attack. No motive has been determined. Read more here.

On June 1, 2022, a 45-year-old man in Tulsa, Oklahoma shot and killed four people in a medical building. The shooter used an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle and a semiautomatic handgun in the attack. The shooting appears to be motivated by pain the shooter experienced following back surgery which was performed by a doctor who works out of the medical building.

Source:

Torchinsky, rina. (June 2, 2022). "Tulsa gunman bought an AR-15 the day of the mass shooting and targeted his doctor". NPR. Retrieved 2022-06-10

In total, the three mass shootings resulted in 36 people killed and 20 wounded.

The issue of gun violence and gun control in America is complicated. PBS FRONTLINE aired two different informative documentaries on this issue, one on January 6, 2015 entitled Gunned Down: The Power of the NRA, and another on March 24, 2020 entitled NRA Under Fire. You can also view transcripts of these two documentaries here and here.

What follows is a chronological list of what's being said and done by our elected officials to address gun violence in America, followed by a discussion of the major factors in play in the gun control debate.

What's Being Said and Done

On May 24, 2022, after the Uvalde shooting, Senator Chris Murphy (Democrat-Connecticut) delivered a short speech on the Senate floor, pleading with his fellow Republican senators to do something in response to the massacre. Here's some of what he said:

Why are you here [in the Senate] if not to solve a problem as existential as this?

Every ounce of love and thoughts and prayers we can send we are sending, but I'm here on this floor to beg to literally get down on my hands and knees and beg my colleagues: Find a path forward here. Work with us to find a way to pass laws that make this less likely.

There were more mass shootings than days in the year. Our kids are living in fear every single time they set foot in the classroom because they think they're going to be next.

This [mass shootings] only happens in this country. And nowhere else...And it is a choice. It is our choice to let it continue.

I understand my Republican colleagues will not agree to everything that I may support but there is a common denominator that we can find. There is a place where we can achieve agreement that may not guarantee that America never ever again sees a mass shooting, that may not overnight cut in half the number of murders that happen in America. It will not solve the problem of American violence by itself. But by doing something we at least stop sending this quiet message of endorsement to these killers whose brains are breaking, who see the highest levels of government doing nothing shooting after shooting.

Source:

Murphy, Chris. (May 24, 2022). "Murphy Pleads with Colleagues: Why Do You Spend All This Time Running For Senate If Your Answer As The Slaughter Increases Is To Do Nothing". murphy.senate.gov. Retrieved 2022-06-04

On May 26, 2022, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Republican-Kentucky) appointed Senator John Cornyn (Republican-Texas) as the lead negotiator in gun reform talks with Senate Democrats. On June 1, responding to a message from Joe Pagliarulo (a conservative television and radio talk show host), where Joe indicates his concern that Cornyn might be open to "making gun laws more restrictive", Cornyn tweeted "Not gonna happen".

On May 29, 2022, Vice President Kamala Harris said the following:

"We know what works on this [referring to mass shootings]. It includes, let's have an assault weapons ban​. You know what an assault weapon is? You know how an assault weapon was designed? It was designed for a specific purpose – to kill a lot of human beings quickly. An assault weapon is a weapon of war with no place, no place in a civil society.

Source:

Moore, Mark. (May 24, 2022). "VP Kamala Harris demands ban on assault weapons, says they have 'no place in civil society'". New York Post. Retrieved 2022-06-11

On June 2, 2022, President Biden delivered a speech in response to the recent mass shootings.

In his speech, Biden made it clear that the solution isn't about taking away American citizen's guns, their rights, or vilifying gun owners. He continued by saying:

In fact, we believe we should be treating responsible gun owners as an example of how every gun owner should behave. I respect the culture and the tradition and the concerns of lawful gun owners.

Biden also quoted former U.S. Supreme Court Judge Antonin Scalia, noting Scalia said that Second Amendment rights are "not unlimited." Biden noted that machine guns have been federally regulated for nearly 90 years.

Biden said the issue is about protecting children, families, and communities, and the freedom to go about our daily lives without fear of being shot or killed.

Biden continued by saying:

We need to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. And if we can't ban assault weapons, then we should raise the age to purchase them from 18 to 21. Strengthen background checks. Enact safe storage laws and red-flag laws. Repeal the immunity that protects gun manufacturers from liability. Address the mental health crisis deepening the trauma of gun violence and as a consequence of that violence.

We should reinstate the assault weapons ban and high-capacity magazines that we passed in 1994 with bipartisan support in Congress and the support of law enforcement. Nine categories of semi-automatic weapons were included in that ban, like AK-47s and AR-15s.

We should limit how many rounds a weapon can hold. Why in God's name should an ordinary citizen be able to purchase an assault weapon that holds 30-round magazines that let mass shooters fire hundreds of bullets in a matter of minutes?

We should expand background checks to be- — keep guns out of the hands of felons, fugitives, and those under restraining orders. Stronger background checks are something that the vast majority of Americans, including the majority of gun owners, agree on.

I also believe we should have safe storage laws and personal liability for not locking up your gun.

We should also have national red-flag laws so that a parent, a teacher, a counselor can flag for a court that a child, a student, a patient is exhibiting violent tendencies, threatening classmates, or experiencing suicidal thoughts that makes them a danger to themselves or to others.

We should repeal the liability shield that often protects gun manufacturers from being sued for the death and destruction caused by their weapons. They're the only industry in this country that has that kind of immunity.

We must provide more school counselors, more school nurses, more mental health services for students and for teachers, more people volunteering as mentors to help young people succeed, more privacy protection and resources to keep kids safe from the harms of social media.

I just told you what I'd do. The question now is: What will the Congress do?

Source:

Biden, Joe. (June 2, 2022). "Remarks by President Biden on Gun Violence in America". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved 2022-06-05

Joe Biden has a comprehensive plan for dealing with gun violence which details what he said in his speech. View the plan, entitled "The Biden Plan to End Our Gun Violence Epidemic", here.

On June 5, 2022, Speaking with CNN host Jake Tapper, Murphy said that the bipartisan gun reform talks he is spear-heading in the Senate will not include comprehensive background checks or an assault weapons ban.

On June 8, 2022, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a comprehensive gun control bill by a vote of 223-204. Five Republicans voted in favor of the bill and one Democrat voted against it.

On June 9, 2022, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a red-flag gun control bill by a vote of 224-202. Five Republicans voted in favor of the bill and two Democrats voted against it.

On June 12, 2022, a bipartisan group of 20 senators led by Senator Chris Murphy (Democrat-Connecticut) and Senator John Cornyn (Republican-Texas) announced they have agreed to a bipartisan, nine-point gun violence plan. The plan addresses red flag laws, children, family, and school-based mental health services, new safety measures at schools, and strengthens criminal background check requirements for gun buyers younger than 21.

On June 14, 2022, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Republican-Texas) said he is comfortable with the framework of the bipartisan plan.

On June 15, 2022, Senator John Cornyn (Republican-Texas) announced he is concerned that a couple of issues could jeopardize the bipartisan plan.

The two main issues holding up a guns deal, briefly explained | Vox

On June 21, 2022, the bipartisan group of senators working on gun legislation announced they reached a deal on a bipartisan gun safety bill.

READ: Text of the Senate's bipartisan gun safety bill | The Hill

On June 23, 2022, by a vote of 65-33 the Senate passed the "Bipartisan Safer Communities Act". All 50 Democrats voted in favor of the bill along with 15 Republicans.

These are the 15 Republican senators who voted to pass federal gun safety legislation | CNN

On June 24, 2022, by a vote of 234-193 the House passed the "Bipartisan Safer Communities Act". Fourteen Republicans voted in favor of the bill.

On June 25, 2022, President Biden signed the bipartisan gun safety bill into law. Here's what the bill does:

  • Allocates $750 million to supporting states in implementing "red flag laws", temporarily prevent people who have been found by a court to pose a risk to themselves or others from obtaining a firearm.
  • Closes the "boyfriend loophole", prohibiting people convicted of domestic violence while in a "dating relationship" from purchasing firearms.
  • Requires enhanced background checks for gun buyers under the age of 21, and provides additional funding to federal and local law enforcement to carry out those background checks and keep accurate criminal and mental health records.
  • Clarifies and expands the definition of a "federally licensed firearms dealer" (gun dealers required by federal law to conduct background checks).
  • Creates new federal criminal offenses for interstate gun trafficking and for making "straw purchases" (when someone buys a gun on behalf of another person but tells the seller they'll be the owner).

Source:

Narea, Nicole. (June 24, 2022). "Congress passes a landmark gun control package". Vox. Retrieved 2022-06-26

More:

Conservative Fear

There is considerable fear, primarily among conservatives, that the government wants to take away your Second Amendment rights and take away all your guns. It's a fear of a "tyrannical" government, and what other rights that government might try to take away after it has "de-weaponized" its citizenry.

There's also the fear, primarily among conservative politicians, that they will lose support from the NRA, from other gun rights groups, from their Republican colleagues, and be voted out of office by the citizens they represent if they don't do everything in their power to ensure that gun laws and Second Amendment rights remain untouched.

A recent example of how this plays out began on May 27 when, during a press conference U.S. House Representative Chris Jacobs (Republican-New York) said he would vote for a bill banning the sale of weapons like an AR-15. Jacobs also said he supports limiting access to body armor and raising the legal age for buying high-capacity semi-automatic weapons to 21. After immediate backlash from "gun status quo" Republicans (including the withdrawal of support from those who had previously supported him), Jacobs announced just one week later that he would not be seeking reelection.

Jacobs, like Liz Cheney (Republican-Wyoming) and Adam Kinzinger (Republican-Illinois), is one of the few Republicans who've had the courage to stand their ground, despite fear of retribution. For the overwhelming majority of Republicans in Congress however, that's not the case.

Another example is the "Report of the Permanent 2022 Platform & Resolutions Committee" recently announced by the Texas Republican Party. In the Resolutions section of the report there are two resolutions, the second of which addresses the current gun bill negotiations saying "We reject the so called 'bipartisan gun agreement', and goes on to say "we rebuke" a list of 9 Republican senators in favor of the agreement. Although not related to gun legislation, it's worth noting that the first resolution states "We reject the certified results of the 2020 Presidential election, and we hold that acting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was not legitimately elected by the people of the United States." This is a prime example of what happens in our current political environment when you "buck" the prevailing winds of your political party.

Fear is one of the strongest human motivators. It can make people do irrational and unreasonable things. Fear is part of what keeps so many politicians from supporting common sense gun legislation.

NRA and Gun Rights Groups

The National Rifle Association (NRA) has been a "thorn in the side" of gun control advocates since the organization changed its core objective back in 1977.

A paragraph on the Home page of the NRA website reads as follows:

The NRA is widely recognized as a major political force and as America's foremost defender of Second Amendment rights. NRA-ILA, the lobbying arm of the NRA, is involved in any issue that directly or indirectly affects firearms ownership and use.

The NRA published an official statement in response to President Biden's June 2 speech regarding guns. The statement ends with the following:

But, instead of acting on functional measures and real solutions that when implemented will reduce crime and will help those with dangerous behavioral health issues, all that the President repeatedly proposes will only infringe on the rights of those law-abiding who have never, and will never, commit a crime. This isn't a real solution, it isn't true leadership, and it isn't what America needs. And, that's a shame.

The statement also contains a long paragraph about America's "critical mental health crisis."

Also appearing on the NRA website is an article dated June 2, 2022 entitled "Biden Pushes 9mm Handgun Ban, Harris Wants to Ban Common Semi-autos". The article cites several statements made by both President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to backup the claim. The article states:

Political observers curious as to why gun rights supporters refuse to concede any ground to gun control advocates need look no further than the president and vice president's statements. Both have made clear that their goal is to ban firearms and disarm law-abiding Americans. Aside from being ineffective, no intermediate concession is enough to satisfy those who oppose the fundamental right to keep and bear arms, but such concessions will encourage and facilitate their stated goal of civilian disarmament.

The first statement referenced in the NRA article is something Biden said on May 30, 2022 when speaking about a conversation he had with a trauma doctor many years ago:

"Why are they [people with gunshot wounds] dying?" And they showed me x-rays. He said, "A .22-caliber bullet will lodge in the lung, and we can probably get it out, may be able to get it, and save the life. A 9mm bullet blows the lung out of the body." So the idea of these high-caliber weapons is of — there's simply no rational basis for it in terms of thinking about self-protection, hunting. I mean, I just — and remember, the Constitution, the Second Amendment was never absolute.

Source:

Biden, Joe. (May 30, 2022). "Remarks by President Biden After Marine One Arrival". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved 2022-06-08

Biden made this statement on Memorial Day, the day after returning from his trip to Uvalde, Texas. I think it's safe to say that he was still deeply moved by what he saw and felt in Uvalde when he recounted what a doctor had told him regarding what a 9mm bullet does to the human body. His statement reflects his emotional state at that moment of time and DOES NOT reflect what he said in his June 2 speech, and DOES NOT reflect what is stated in his what his plan to end gun violence which I referenced earlier. It's worth noting that Fox News also published an article on May 30 about this statement by Biden in an article entitled "Biden calls 9mm 'high-caliber weapons,' suggests banning them".

The second statement referenced in the NRA article is something Biden said on July 21, 2021 when speaking at a CNN town hall:

I'm the only guy that ever got passed legislation, when I was a senator, to make sure we eliminated assault weapons. The idea you need a weapon that can have the ability to fire 20, 30, 40, 50, 120 shots from that weapon, whether -- whether it's a .9 millimeter pistol or whether it's a rifle, is ridiculous. I'm continuing to push to eliminate the sale of those things.

Source:

(July 21, 2021). "Joe Biden town hall in Cincinnati: Here's the full CNN transcript". The Enquirer. Retrieved 2022-06-08

The NRA article says the following about this Biden statement:

Of course, any semi-automatic firearm capable of accepting a detachable magazine has the "ability to fire" in the manner Biden deemed objectionable. Therefore, the president's statement was a call to ban all semi-automatic handguns, rifles, and shotguns capable of accepting a detachable magazine.

NO, what Biden said wasn't a call to ban the guns mentioned. What he was talking about is high-capacity magazines (the "20, 30, 40, 50, 120 shots"). True, he didn't say that explicitly, but that's what he meant when he said he wants to "eliminate the sale of those things." If Biden wanted to ban the sale of ALL semi-automatic weapons, he would have said so, without saying what he said in the context of "20, 30, 40, 50, 120 shots".

The third statement referenced in the NRA article is something Biden said on November 15, 2019 when speaking at a Seattle fund-raising event:

Why should we allow people to have military-style weapons including pistols with 9-mm bullets and can hold 10 or more rounds?

Source:

Brunner, Jim. (November 15, 2019). "Speaking at the 'House of Amazon,' Joe Biden gently raises company's role in middle-class job losses". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2022-06-11

The fourth statement referenced in the NRA article is something Biden said on August 5, 2019 when interviewed by host Anderson Cooper of CNN. Cooper said:

So to gun owners out there who say, 'well, a Biden administration means they will come for my guns.'

Biden resonded:

Bingo. You're right if you have an assault weapon. The fact of the matter is they should be illegal, period. Look, the Second Amendment doesn't say you can't restrict the kinds of weapon people can own. You can't buy a bazooka, you can't have a flame thrower.

Source:

Rowan, Nic (August 5, 2019). "Biden: Assault Weapons 'Should Be Illegal, Period'". The Washington Free Beacon. Retrieved 2022-06-11

The NRA article says the following about this statement and Biden's November 15, 2019 statement:

As made clear from Biden's July 21, 2021 and November 2019 statements, the president considers 9mm pistols to be "assault weapons" or "military-style weapons," and thus these firearms are the target of his confiscation effort.

NO, it's not "clear" from those two statements that Biden wants to confiscate 9mm pistols. Biden considers 9mm handguns to be "assault weapons" ONLY IF they are equipped with high-capacity magazines that enable a shooter to shoot for a longer period of time without reloading. He wants the high-capacity magazines banned, NOT 9mm handguns.

The NRA article continues by citing several recent examples where Vice President Kamala Harris stated her support for an assault weapons "buyback program."

Kamala Harris says she supports a mandatory buyback on 'assault weapons' | Fox News

The article concludes with the following:

Political observers curious as to why gun rights supporters refuse to concede any ground to gun control advocates need look no further than the president and vice president's statements. Both have made clear that their goal is to ban firearms and disarm law-abiding Americans. Aside from being ineffective, no intermediate concession is enough to satisfy those who oppose the fundamental right to keep and bear arms, but such concessions will encourage and facilitate their stated goal of civilian disarmament.

What can we glean from this article? Staunch gun rights advocates have a core belief that the government wants to confiscate ALL of America's guns. That belief is so strong that they will bend and twist facts so they better fit into their belief system.

Another group, Gun Owners of America (GOA), declares it is a "non-profit lobbying organization formed in 1976 to preserve and defend the Second Amendment rights of gun owners." The website also says the following:

GOA's Board is not satisfied with the "status quo." Americans have lost some of our precious gun rights and we want them back! This is why GOA is considered the "no compromise" gun lobby. From state legislatures and city councils to the United States Congress and the White House, GOA represents the views of more than two million gun owners whenever their rights are threatened.

Over the last 30 years, GOA has built a nationwide network of attorneys to help fight court battles in almost every state in the nation to protect gun owner rights. GOA staff and attorneys have also worked with members of Congress, state legislators and local citizens to protect gun ranges and local gun clubs from closure by overzealous government anti-gun bureaucrats.

Source:

"About Gun Owners of America". Gun Owners of America. Retrieved 2022-06-15

A "national alert" entitled "Senate to Undermine 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 14th Amendment" published on June 14, 2022 on the "Gun Owners of America" website, regarding the bipartisan Senate negotiations taking place in June, 2022 reads as follows:

A gun control "compromise" has reached 60 votes in the Senate, giving it a filibuster-proof majority. While the bill is still being drafted, here are some of the provisions the framework calls for:

  • Federal dollars to bribe state legislators into enacting Red Flag Gun Confiscation Laws
  • Delayed and expanded background checks for citizens under 21 years old
  • FFL definition changes which could be a backdoor way to universal background registration checks
  • Establish new federal offenses related to so-called "gun trafficking" that could inadvertently be applied to you, making you a felon

Here are the 10 Republicans who have agreed to tear apart the Second Amendment:

John Cornyn (TX)
Thom Tillis (NC)
Roy Blunt (MO)
Richard Burr (NC)
Bill Cassidy (LA)
Susan Collins (ME)
Lindsey Graham (SC)
Rob Portman (OH)
Mitt Romney (UT)
Pat Toomey (PA)

…and now Mitch McConnell (KY)!

So long as we can pressure the Senate to walk away from this assault on our Second Amendment rights, the bill can be filibustered and ripped to pieces. That's why GOA urgently needs YOU to take action. Your action could be what sways the Senate to stop this gun control nightmare from landing on Biden's desk.

At the top of the page with this alert is an e-mail signup.

Source:

"Senate to Undermine 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 14th Amendment". Gun Owners of America. Retrieved 2022-06-15

The National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR) is another "no compromise" gun rights group.

The Home page of the website (on June 16, 2022) reads as follows:

National Association for Gun Rights | Senate Gun Deal

No Gun Control, No Deals.

At the National Association for Gun Rights, we know if you give anti-gun politicians an inch, they will take a mile. That's why we always take a no-compromise stance when defending our right to keep and bear arms. We will never cut backroom deals. We will never compromise.

"If you're looking for a group that doesn't compromise on the Second Amendment, the National Association for Gun Rights is it." – Congressman Thomas Massie, House Second Amendment Caucus Chairman

"The National Association for Gun Rights is the most formidable opponent to gun control in America." – U.S. Senator Rand Paul

Source:

"Senate to Undermine 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 14th Amendment". Gun Owners of America. Retrieved 2022-06-15

Another page on the website has a message from NAGR Founder Mike Rothfeld. According to the website:

Mike Rothfeld is a political consultant with a national reputation for political confrontation and success. He teaches political tactics to activists and guides the formation and growth of many Liberty and Conservative organizations.

Following the message is a discussion of five major strategic concepts Rothfeld believes are necessary to "win", politically speaking. You can down view and/or download his 9-page "Political Strategy" document here.

Source:

"NAGR Strategy". National Association for Gun Rights. Retrieved 2022-06-16

You might be wondering why I went to such great lengths describing and quoting the three major gun rights groups above. I did it to show how stubborn and inflexible these groups are. Two of the three groups blatantly tout their "no compromise" mindset.

However you feel about guns and what we should do as a country to decrease gun violence in America, it's clear that these three groups have NOT HELPED. They are not willing to negotiate or bend, not even "an inch" as stated on the NAGR website.

And even right now, when senators in Congress are making a desperate attempt to pass some kind of "common sense" gun legislation, these groups ADAMANTLY OPPOSE the effort.

Our democracy is based on compromise and negotiation. These groups are not "patriotic," they are a pathetic example of what's wrong with America.

The American Culture/Religious War and Political Polarization

The culture/religious war in America has been going on for decades, but the election of Donald Trump as president in 2016 "blew the lid" off of it. With Trump, the war became considerably more obvious, more visible, and more palpable. With Trump, conservative/religious people who before felt left behind, disregarded, or disrespected, now felt emboldened to speak openly about their faith and the issues that concern them. The response from liberals and "secularists" to this new-found freedom has been just as loud and sharp-tongued.

In previous posts I've written extensively about how religion is an integral part of Trumpism. Speaking at a Conservative Political Action Conference on February 28, 2019, ardent Trump supporter and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell said that Trump was 'chosen by God'. In a text sent to Ginni Thomas (wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas) on November 24, 2020, then White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said "This is a fight of good versus evil. Evil always looks like the victor until the King of Kings triumphs." Do some online research and you'll find countless other statements made by conservative politicians and Trump supporters who believe that Trump was in fact appointed by God.

The American gun culture is an integral part of the culture/religious war. To see an example of one way this plays out in our politics, look no further than a 38-second "RINO Hunting" video published on Facebook and Twitter by Republican U.S. Senate candidate Eric Greitens (from Missouri) on June 20, 2022. Facebook removed the video because it violates its policies prohibiting violence and incitement. Another example, and one which I commented on in a post on this website, is the "Gun-Toting" Family Christmas Photos posted to Twitter by U.S. House Rep Thomas Massie (Republican-Kentucky) on December 4, 2021. One final example is a TV ad aired in February 2022 showing Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Jim Lamon in a western shootout with actors depicting the "D.C. Gang" Mark Kelly (Democrat-Arizona), President Joe Biden, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Democrat-California).

On June 3, 2022, New York Times columnist David Brooks made some insightful comments about guns in America on the PBS Newshour:

And while this is happening [the shifting of public opinion about gun regulation], the Republican Party has been moved — moving firmer into more gun friendly, and not only gun friendly, but gun aggressively friendly direction.

And so for — the identity of conservatism has become Gods and guns, or borders, bullets, and babies, as one candidate said it. And so supporting guns has become almost a talisman, a sort of visual signature for Republicans, what T.S. Eliot used to call an objective correlative, like the visual thing to symbolize an entire philosophy.

And so my theory is, what's happened is, a lot of gun owners — and we have ample evidence of this — do support a lot of these things we're talking about ["common sense" gun regulation]. But the Republican Party, like the Democratic Party, has become not just a political party that passes legislation. It's become a cultural tribe.

And tribes are held together by loyalty. And tribes are held together by taboos. And it has now become a taboo in the Republican Party, having nothing to do with the substance of guns. It's just a marker. If you're a member of our tribe, if you belong to us, you do not do anything on guns. You also believe the election was stolen.

And these are tribal markers. And I have trouble seeing us breaking that tribal mentality, which demands uniformity, unless our overall politics becomes less polarized.

Source:

Brooks, David. (June 3, 2022). "Brooks and Capehart on the wave of gun violence in America". PBS. Retrieved 2022-06-17

I think Brooks nailed it talking about "tribes", "taboos", and "markers."

Unfortunately for our democracy, it's crystal clear that both Democrats and Republicans are behaving more like tribes than political parties. This tribal mentality amped up considerably with the election of Donald Trump, primarily because of his lies, his polarizing views, and his pathetic behavior. Now, instead of just dislike or disagreement with "the other side", it's outright hatred and repudiation of virtually everything "the other side" says, proposes, or does. Now, objective, verifiable facts are ignored, disputed, and discounted, and replaced by some other narrative or conspiracy theory - regardless of how dubious - that better suits a belief system and/or desired political message.

I agree with Brooks when he says that it's become a "taboo" for any Republican to compromise, even an inch, on gun reform - that remaining firm and not giving any ground whatsoever is a symbol or tribal "marker" of being a loyal Republican. I also agree with Brooks that believing in the "Big Lie" is another tribal "marker."

The problem for our democracy is that tribal mentality is not conducive to compromise or negotiation. Tribal mentality is all about power, for the sake of power, where objective reality, substance, and common sense take a back seat to tribe loyalty. When you won't budge, even an inch, on "common sense" gun reform, and you continue to believe in the "Big Lie" conspiracy theory, then our democracy is in peril.

The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Background Checks and the "Charleston Loophole"

Assault Weapons and High-Capacity Magazines

American Gun Violence Statistics

The Small Arms Survey is an independent research group that provides "impartial, evidence-based, and policy-relevant knowledge on all aspects of small arms and armed violence to governments, policymakers, researchers, and civil society." According to a 2017 estimate in their 2018 Briefing Paper, 393,300,3000 civilian-held legal and illicit firearms were in circulation in the United States - over five times the number of firearms as the second highest in the report, India, with 71,1000,000. According to the same report, the estimated rate of civilian firearms holdings (firearms per 100 residents) in the U.S. was 120.5 - over twice the rate of the second highest in the report, Yemen, with 52.8.

A May 25, 2022 article on the BBC website says the following:

In 2020, 43% of the deaths - amounting to 19,384 people - were homicides, according to data from the CDC.

The figure represents a 34% increase from 2019, and a 75% increase over the course of the previous decade.

Nearly 53 people are killed each day by a firearm in the US, according to the data.

That same article compares the percentage of all American homicides caused by guns with four other countries, showing the U.S at 79%, Canada at 37%, Australia at 13%, and the United Kingdom at 4%.

Regarding assault weapons restrictions in the U.S., according to the article 8 states (California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Washington D.C.) have assault weapons bans, and 2 states (Minnesota and Virginia) regulate but do not ban assault weapons.

Another source for gun violence statistics in the U.S. is a February 3, 2022 Pew Research Center article entitled "What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S.."

What Do Recent Polls Say?

Mental Health

The Dickey Amendment

The Tiahrt Amendment

A Dysfunctional U.S. Congress

Racism and Implicit Bias

The Internet and Social Media

Conspiracy Theories, "Alternative Facts", and Disinformation

The Media

One comment on "Op-Ed | After Three American Mass Shootings in 19 Days Will Anything of Consequence Change?"

  1. More heated than abortion and almost as ridiculous as Trump's 2020 "Big Lie." America is averaging 3 mass shootings every 2 days (4 or more shot, fatally or not, in one incident). Beyond obscene. We should look at the Swiss model. In short, many are inactive military reserve, all are taught responsible shooting and storage, almost all households have many types of guns, all are held very accountable if "unauthorized" use. Swiss violent crime is almost nonexistent. What's fueling our gun insanity is partly is far right conspiracies about swarms of "others" who will overrun homes and communities. Therefore "responsible" citizens (read: White) have a duty to be armed and ready, or your patriotism is questioned. Hollywood also plays a role, as noted recently. I understand the Senate has put forward some gun legislation last night. Yet to read but I'm certain it stops short of meaningful.

    Reply

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